


Clueless

by FloffyStorm



Series: Restart? [3]
Category: Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Undead, Blood, Body Horror, Existential Crisis, Gen, Murder, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:29:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28636299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloffyStorm/pseuds/FloffyStorm
Summary: An investigation begins! Or, two begin! The mystery behind Class 77-B, and the mystery behind their murderer.
Series: Restart? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937434
Comments: 29
Kudos: 31





	1. A New Case

Footsteps echoed down the empty halls of Hope’s Peak, footsteps that carried determined intent. She walked down the halls, dead-set on her objective. There were many mysteries to this academy, and it seemed a new one had joined them. Within her gloves hands, she held an opened file, while there were many closed ones tucked under her other arm. As she walked, she read the file.

Class 77-B, one year up from her class. They all went through ‘accidents’, miraculously making it out alive each time. Yet… something was bothering her. Something that made her confused. They all made it out, yes? Then why was there a feeling of an incomplete story to it? She needed to figure this out. 

Outside, she could see smoke pluming from the one building the students are not allowed to enter. That was another mystery, but it seemed it would take longer than the others. Her father didn’t tell her about the class when she asked, so why would he about the building or the contents within? She looked back down at the file. 

Earlier at the fair, she had witnessed a saddening event of one of the teacher’s being murdered- murderer yet to be determined. What was odd about it was that one of the ex-reserve course students who had been discovered as an Ultimate had shooed her and Makoto away. Understandable, if not for the events afterward, where she had witnessed them take the teacher away themselves. Why not call an adult?

Kyoko had many questions, and like the detective she is, she’s going to answer them. One way or another. She needed to figure out where the teacher went, why the students carried her away, and why she saw Natsumi and Sato walking around. Weren’t they dead? Her father had told her many months ago when the accident happened, and she was positive they were gone. Dead. Deceased. Lifeless.

Yet, they live. How could that be? That is the mystery that needed to be solved. 

Footsteps behind her made her halt, and she narrowed her eyes. She turned her head only slightly, and glanced back, but only found Makoto not so sneakily looking around a corner from a door. She looked back ahead, shutting her eyes. He’d make a bad detective.

“Yes, Naegi?” She called out, and heard a surprised gasp from him.

“Oh- uh-” There seemed to be a poorly constructed response. 

“Why were you following me?” 

“Um… I was… worried about why you were here so late?” He asked it like a question, he didn’t know what he was doing. 

“Naegi, I don’t think you even know why you’re following me.” Kyoko sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Why are you here so late?”

“I- I really was kind of worried.” Less like a question, and more sure of himself. Hm.

“Well, I’m fine. You’ve nothing to worry about. Go to your dorm.” 

He came closer. “What’s in your hands?”

“A case. Go to bed, Naegi.” 

“Ah, but Kyoko-” Whatever Makoto was going to say, he stopped. Kyoko looked back at him, and saw him staring out the window, specifically the one facing the smoking building.

She shut the file in her hands, and walked over. “That’s the building we’re not permitted to go to. I’ve been trying to figure out why for a while.” She informed him, but clearly he wasn’t looking at the building. “Naegi?” No response, he seemed to be staring out the window, wide-eyed and confused. “Makoto!”

In response, the lucky student pointed towards the pathway. The detective looked down, trying to find out why he was confused. Then, she also saw it. Earlier that day, they saw someone die. Kyoko knows what a dead body looks like, and the teacher was most certainly dead. Yet, there she was, laughing and talking with her class, walking away from the smoking building.

Knitting her eyebrows together, she tried to look closer. How was she alive? Were they all in the building just before? These questions made Kyoko take out her journal, opening it to the pages where she was writing about this mysterious class. She added about the teacher being alive, despite all odds against her. 

“Kyoko? How is she alive?” Makoto suddenly asked.

“The only logical explanation is that she wasn’t actually dead, but on the brink of death. Yet…” Kyoko pressed a gloved fist to her mouth in thought. “It just doesn’t seem possible. A knife to the chest, from what I could tell, could’ve killed her in a span of a few minutes. Either bleeding out or…” Makoto seemed to be uncomfortable at the detailing of the crime scene. “I mean, she would’ve died in a few minutes after being stabbed. She didn’t get immediate help, at least it seemed so...”

“Then… how is she walking around? As if nothing happened?” Makoto questioned, a bit overwhelmed, most likely from the surplus of surprise being thrown their way.

“Let me think…” Kyoko looked out the window again. That was when a bit of a shocking sight happened. 

Down there, where all of her students seemed to be bustling with joy, one of them fell. It was the dancer, the one Kyoko was investigating during the fair. There was just something about her neck that didn’t seem right. When she got up, however, her head was dangling on a broken neck, and the detective raised a brow with widened eyes. So there was something wrong. 

Beside her, Makoto made a squeaky noise, as if in horror. It didn’t seem like the dancer, or the people around her for that matter, were disturbed. The photographer beside her just reset her neck like nothing. That wasn’t the only occurrence. 

The class’ lucky student stopped, coughing horribly, as if he was choking. The teacher rushed beside him, but he seemed to have stopped, reassuring her of something before continuing on. There was also the musician- who was literally sparking with joy as she hopped around. Lightning cackled out of her and lit a bush on fire. 

Kyoko watched, hand over her mouth as she tried to think. Clearly, something happened to them, either in that building, or before. Were they all doing something similar? Could it be just those few? Something wasn’t adding up. No human could survive a snapped neck, or shoot lightning out of themselves. 

“K-Kyoko? What’s happening with them?!” Makoto asked, freaked out. 

“Hm. I’m unsure, it must have something to do with that building.” Kyoko furrowed her eyebrows in deeper thought. “Illegal human experimentation, maybe.”

“What?!” 

“Don’t worry about it, Ma- Naegi. I’m a detective, after all.” Kyoko began walking down the hall, a shadow over her eyes. “And I will find the truth, no matter what.”

[---]

“Er, Chiaki? You’ve been hugging me for a few minutes now…” Chisa’s cheery and soft voice chuckled.

Chiaki let go, a tear going down her face. “Sorry, it’s just… I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I know exactly how you are feeling, trust me.” Chisa gave a small smile, and sighed a little. “After this… I suppose that really wasn’t some cruel prank, then.”

Chiaki lowered her head a little. “No, it wasn’t. We all really did… pass.” 

“My poor students! You must have been so scared and hurt!” Chisa looked worried and sympathetic.

Fuyuhiko snorted from his desk. “Nah, I don’t get fucking scared.Not even of death.” Natsumi beside him narrowed her eyes while a smile spread on her face.

“Are you kiddin’?! I was terrified! Spillin’ mah food is my worst nightmare!” Teruteru argued, holding tightly onto a spatula he pulled from nowhere.

“It’s not so bad if you think of it as training,” Akane commented, cleaning out her ear with her finger. “Fall practice.”

Mahiru furrowed her eyebrows at Akane. “Is that a pun on your death?”

“Pun?” Akane tilted her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh,” Kazuichi suddenly sounded. “Ya know what I just realized? I have no clue how any of ya died.” A bit of silence stretched after that comment.

“He has a point!” Sonia was the first to say anything, surprisingly. Kazuichi had a smile, yet somehow it was toned down from how his ‘Sonia-appreciation-smiles’ used to be. “I too, have no clue how those died after me! I can only make guesses from the… ‘after effects’!”

“...Should we talk aboutta ‘em?” Akane suggested.

Even more silence began, only interrupted by uncomfortable noises from some, yet it was broken pretty soon as well. “Are any of us prepared for the devil’s conversation of death?” Gundham looked over at all of them from his desk, a shadow over his eyes. His hamsters chittered, almost worried-like.

Nobody said anything, once again. However, this silence was becoming longer than the others, as many did not know how to respond. Even Chiaki was speechless, looking over at the empty desk where Hajime would sit. What would Izuru say? Would talking about the way they died help in any way with coping? Or would it make it worse?

After the longest stretch of silence to date, Chiaki sighed. “I don’t think so. Even if it could help us in any way, I don’t think anyone here wants to talk about it right now.” 

Gundham inclined his head upward, resting his chin against his folded hands as his elbows rested on the desk. “There’s our answer, then.”

Chiaki looked down again, then back up. “We should be glad that we’re all living!” She smiled. “We get a second chance, and we don’t lose anyone!”

“If you call the existence we are experiencing living.” The comment surprised Chiaki a little, and she looked over at Gundham again, who had lowered his head. 

“Of course it’s living!” Sonia smiled, tilting her head a bit. “We’re all still standing!” She put a hand on her elevated arm, and strengthened her voice. “If that isn’t living, then what is!”

Uncharacteristically, Gundham stayed silent, only side-eyeing everyone else from the corner his desk was in. Chiaki didn’t know whether to be worried or not, and her eyes wandered towards Mikan, who seemed a lot better mentally. At least in the not trying to kill anyone part. Deciding to brush that off for now, the gamer gleefully did a little hop.

“Who wants to play video games?” She asked, wanting to get everyone’s mind off of death. If only Hajime wasn’t resting because Izuru forced him to- actually, he needs it.

A lot of hands shot up, and a lot of shouts of agreement sounded. Chiaki gave a cheery smile and laugh, getting some of her friends help with setting up and sending others to pick out games for them all to play. Even Chisa joined in, despite having been revived just that night. Chiaki supposed video games were the ties that bound their friendships.

She was having so much fun with her other classmates, she didn’t notice that Gundham had left.

**_[Clue Found!: The Reappearance of Chisa Yukizome!]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter! Woo!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy this last installment in the fan series, I'll try to make it have a satisfactory end!


	2. The Wait Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko and Makoto form an alliance. Chiaki wants to solve her own case, but has to play a little game of waiting first.

A thin, red thread was pulled around a pin on a cork board, connecting a picture of Chisa Yukizome to the strange building that was smoking just the night before. Pale, purple eyes traced the other threads, although some have notes taped over them. The detective put her hand to her chin in deep thought, trying to figure out the connections.

Behind her, the door to the room was slightly ajar as the ultimate lucky student looked in. Kyoko knew he was trying to be secretive, but it wasn’t working. She only wasn’t saying something because she needed to focus on this case she found, and not worry about the goings of her classmate. This case was serious, there were too many unknown variables to it, and though there may be bigger situations out there, this one seemed the most… unexpected.

She had a theory, but this theory was way out of proportion. There was no way the theory was correct, she just needed… evidence. Yes! More evidence, that’ll prove this theory wrong and give light to the right answer. First, she needed to lay out her questions. They were at the top of the corkboard, with pins and threads tying them to some pictures. Answer them, then she’ll answer the case.

“Ah, but where will this evidence be?” She wondered aloud, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Maybe you can ask the students questions?” Makoto’s voice sounded from the doorway, and Kyoko shut her eyes.

“Naegi, are you trying to stalk me?” She asked, looking back at him with a deadpan expression.

“Wha-” He held up his hands, sweat going down his face. “No, no! I was just wondering if you were doing alright!” 

“Well, I’m fine, I don’t know why you must worry about me. It’s just an everyday case,” _With no abnormal or abstract theories_ , she added mentally. 

“I was also kind of hoping…” Makoto walked a bit closer, scratching his cheek with his index finger. “If I could help you? I’m also kind of curious, and I think you shouldn’t do everything alone.”

“Are you saying I can’t solve this by myself?”

“No! No, of course not! You’re definitely capable of solving any case on your own!” Makoto waved his arms about, almost in a panic to reassure Kyoko. “I’m just saying, I think getting more help will be better.”

Kyoko looked to the ground in thought. “Hm, so you’re saying a different perspective will be helpful?” Sighing, she looked at him. “Alright, I’ll let you help. Only because you’re just going to help even if I say no.”

Makoto smiled. “Uh… yeah… thank you.”

Kyoko then went back to the corkboard, narrowing her eyes. Makoto walked beside her, staring at the board as well. The detective wondered if he could follow along with the threads, but decided he most likely could. He wasn’t a moron. Maybe.

“I have a question,” Makoto said. “What exactly is the overall case?”

“The reappearance of Chisa Yukizome,” Kyoko answered. “Of course, there are other questions. I just need to start gathering evidence.”

“What kind of evidence?”

“Hm, sometimes, you just need to start. Once we gather the first piece, we’ll know which question to go after first.”

“Alright, sounds kind of simple. Where do we start?”

Kyoko rested her hand against her chin. “I believe… we check out that building.”

Makoto nodded, smiling with determination. Kyoko raised a brow, and a small smile found its way on her face. An unlikely assistant for sure, although, that was another mystery to her own class. The mystery of Makoto’s kindness to his classmates. To his… friends.

“...When do we start?” Makoto then asked, scratching his cheek again.

“Oh, after dark, of course. We can’t get caught.” Kyoko informed him, and Makoto looked determined again. “Prepare until then, alright?” He nodded, and then the bell rang. 

A look of surprise went on the lucky student’s face, and waved goodbye before hurrying away. Kyoko wondered if she should skip class- it wasn’t mandatory- but, ultimately, decided to go anyway. Even if she did want to work on the case further, she couldn’t, until tonight. Tonight, they may very well gather their first piece of evidence.

[---]

A golden, metal-like fan went whizzing by Chiaki’s face, and she leaned back. Hiyoko’s reprimanding voice started cutting through the air- at Ibuki. The gamer gave a small chuckle, looking to where the fan landed. The chuckle went nervous as she realized it was sharp enough to wedge itself into the wall like a knife. Why would a dancer even have a fan with edges like that?! 

She grabbed it and walked over to the bickering duo. “Um, this is yours, I think…” She handed it over, and Hiyoko sighed.

“Thank you. Some people just don’t understand that _some things aren’t toys!_ ” She glared at Ibuki.

“Hey! Mahiru’s friend told Ibuki that it would be fun to throw it around! Don’t put so much blame on me!” Ibuki threw up a peace sign while looking a bit smug for someone trying to get in the clear.

Hiyoko pointed her precious-looking fan at the musician and Chiaki smiled. As long as they weren’t seriously at their throats, then all was fine… sort of. Bickering was common among her classmates, they were such a colorful bunch afterall! She wouldn’t want it any other way. Speaking of classmates… her gaze drifted towards the now empty seat that was Hajime’s.

She understood he needed rest. She was just really worried, maybe she should visit him today. He should be at his dorm, Izuru said taking him to a hospital would be against certain rules they have to follow. The gamer didn’t really understand, but if Hajime said he’ll be okay without a hospital, then all should be fine, right? 

Chiaki went back to paying attention to her class, smiling at them. They were just hanging around, a lot of them trying to talk to Chisa. Even Natsumi seemed to finally be getting along with some… although Chiaki wished Teruteru would stop some unsavory comments. He might get hurt. Maybe he should learn to be more respectful! 

Reminding herself of someone, the gamer looked to Kazuichi, who was having an actual, normal conversation with Sonia. He was becoming more respectful towards Sonia, so Teruteru would be able to do the same with everyone. Though, that would be a bit difficult. However, Chiaki was happy overall that her classmates were respecting each other more, and were interacting more.

Except for one, and Chiaki didn’t understand. Gundham used to be so outspoken, even if he was suspected to be shy around others. Now, the gamer could only look at the silent breeder, who was staring into empty space. Not even reading a book, or petting his hamsters, who seemed a bit worried- at least, Chiaki thinks. They were on his desk, trying to get his attention while being jittery and sometimes falling over. Was something… wrong?

No, impossible! Maybe the shock of everything is a bit much. Nothing could be wrong still, right? There was only one problem to solve, only one! Speaking of that problem, she really should visit Hajime after class. There were things that needed to be discussed.

The wait for the end of the day wasn’t one of apprehension, but it was cheery. Chiaki hung around her classmates, trying to get to know Ryota, Sato and Natsumi more; though Ryota was still too scared and jumpy, hanging around the imposter mostly-who Ryota seemed to call ‘Anon’, while Sato just didn’t want to talk that much. Natsumi at least was a little less rude, sort of. Nonetheless, Chiaki still had fun, loving the fact that her class was happier. 

At the end, Chiaki bid farewell to her classmates, who said goodbye back- except for Gundham, who just gave her a stare, and Ryota, who gave an abrupt nervous wave-, then began on her way towards Hajime’s dorm. He was no longer in the Reserve Course, so he lived in the dormitories nearest to Hope’s Peak’s main building, which was easier to get to. Chiaki didn’t even know if the Reserve Course had dorms nearby, or dorms at all.

She walked in, smiling at the receptionist, saying she was only visiting a friend. Then, she travelled up the stairs since the elevator was broken, she heard something about Kazuichi trying to fiddle with it, and then promptly broke it. She wondered why he didn’t fix it yet, but maybe they aren’t allowing him or something. Maybe they’re worried he’ll accidentally make it into an engine. He had a habit of that. Flashbacks to her gaming console made that apparent.

Finally, she reached the floor and walked down the hall to Hajime’s room. She knocked on his door, and heard a voice calling for her to come in. Smiling, Chiaki entered the room to see Hajime in his bed- and pajamas, which was understandable, Chiaki wore pajamas whenever she could. The gamer waved hello, and Hajime smiled at her.

“Hey, hey!” Chiaki greeted, a bit excited to see her good friend.

“Hey, hey,” He repeated. “How was everyone today?”

“They were good! Of course… for our classmates, anyway. You know them.” Chiaki giggled a little, sitting down on one of the chairs. 

“Lemme guess… another small argument happened?”

“Yeah, I guess. Hiyoko and Ibuki, anyway.” Chiaki went through her bookbag. “It wasn’t anything bad, I think.”

“You really need a more uplifting catchphrase,” Hajime commented, which he has before, but Chiaki only ever smiled at him.

“Nah, it’s fine. I never really realized I had a catchphrase. Am I a video game character?” Chiaki wondered aloud, stars in her eyes.

“I think we’d know if we were video game characters…” 

“Well, speaking of video games!” Chiaki held up the handheld consoles, and handed one over. Hajime smiled, taking it and starting the game-girl up.

“Galaga again?” Hajime asked, seeing the cartridge. 

“Yes, are you getting bored of it?”

“No, no. Let’s play.” Hajime started his game, and so did Chiaki.

At first, their gaming session started like all the sessions they had before. They played without another thought in the world. However, Chiaki’s mind kept drifting to the real purpose of this certain visit, but she wanted to ask at the right time. An hour passed, and the gamer won another round, giving Hajime a usual smirk, however it was less spirited. It fell to a frown again.

“Can I ask you something?” Chiaki questioned, tilting her head.

“Hm? Of course,” Hajime answered, looking back up at her.

“It’s… about that girl… the one who killed most of my classmates?” Chiaki pushed the topic further, and watched Hajime’s face darkened.

“I see… Izuru’s kind of listening now. What about her?” 

“I think I have a name on her, a Junko, I think…” Chiaki said, lowering her game-girl to discuss it. 

“Hm… I think she’s the Ultimate Fashionista in Class 78.” It was as if he had it memorized, and most likely had due to Izuru.

“...What do we do? What if she tries to hurt my classmates even more?” Chiaki started to tighten her grip on the device in her hands.

“We have to do something, then. Maybe… get her arrested? Or at least expelled.” Hajime suggested, putting his own console down.

“But we need evidence for that!” Chiaki sighed, plopping her head down onto the blanketed bed.

“Maybe… we can get some? We just need to watch her for any suspicious activity…” Hajime stated.

“But that’s playing the waiting game.”

“Sometimes, we have to wait for something to present itself to us. I know you want justice, but you can’t just get it as soon as you’d like.” 

Chiaki puffed out her cheeks. She hated it when Hajime was right. “Okay… but I hope at least something happens soon. I want her gone.”

Hajime gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, but we can only hope.” 

Chiaki fell a bit silent, then looked at Hajime. “...You want to continue playing video games?”

Hajime raised an eyebrow. “Sure, and don’t worry. I’m sure something must happen soon. She’ll be gone then, and we can just live our lives free of worry!”

“Yeah… lives.” Chiaki held up her game, a small voice inside her head attaching itself to her, doubting the thing she’s doing is called living. She shook it away. “Video game time.”

Hajime smiled at her. “Video game time.”

**_[Clue Found!: The Threads of Fate!]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! Don't worry guys, I'm not missing a beat on this one! Hope you like it!


	3. Heated Arguments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko and Makoto find their first indication of what question needs to be answered first. Hiyoko and Sato have a small fight.

“Okay, so let me run this by one more time if you don’t mind,” Makoto started, walking alongside Kyoko. “We just need to gather the first clue, then from there we investigate?”

The detective nodded, staring out of the hallway windows as they passed. “Sometimes, you don’t know where to start. However, the first evidence we find will clue us in on what we need to investigate first.”

Makoto furrowed his eyebrows, clearly thinking about it. “Aren’t there questions you have that need to be answered? Wouldn’t those be the first things we investigate?”

Kyoko gave a small nod of acknowledgement. “But that’s just it. For now, they’re unanswered questions. We don’t know which one to answer first, since they all need to be answered. If we get the first clue, then we can answer the first question.”

“Okay, I think I got it. So, where do we find the first clue?” 

The detective stopped, resetting her hand against her chin again. “Hm. Let’s see… Since it’s a ‘free day’, then I suppose we should take a look around. Don’t call it spying, because all we’re doing is taking a walk.”

Makoto blinked. “Alright. We’re just taking a walk.”

With that, Kyoko began walking again at a brisk pace. Makoto seemed to lag a bit behind, but still kept up as the detective went outside. There were many students out and about on this day, since the weather was so nice. However, Kyoko wasn’t thinking about just taking a break or anything to enjoy the weather, she wanted answers, and she’ll work to find them.

So far, there wasn’t anyone suspicious, and there weren't any sort of unexplainable things happening. There were students either taking walks like her and Makoto, students who were skating or bike riding around school grounds, and others just talking. This was going to be difficult, but what case wasn’t? 

They had to have been walking around for at least an hour, with Makoto saying they should get water or any drink. Kyoko wondered if that was just him saying he was thirsty. It might have been a nice day, but the sun still existed. Agreeing to get something to drink, they began walking towards the main building before having to stop. In their way was a very frustrated looking Celeste.

Makoto, being the friendly yet a bit naive person he was, waved at her. “Celeste, are you enjoying the weather, too?” 

Kyoko watched as the gambler looked as if she was trying to keep calm- it was failing-, and gave the lucky student a strained smile. “Why, Makoto, what a pleasure to see you today. You, too, Kirigiri. How are you on this _fine_ day?”

“Uh…” Makoto seemed a bit perturbed. “Are you okay? You look a bit… angry.”

“Of course I’m angry! I’m FURIOUS!” Celeste suddenly threw away the mask of a calm demeanor, and her accent as well. “What kind of chef calls ME uncultured?! Of course I know all of the European cuisines! Why wouldn’t I?!” Her face was beet red, and she was grinding her teeth.

Makoto had frozen, either in shock or fear. “U-uh…” Kyoko folded her arms, watching Makoto clearly struggle.

“Well, if they were a chef, wouldn’t they know more than you?” Kyoko decided to say something for him, and it was either for better or for worse. Although, the face Celeste was making was leaning towards the worse.

“How. Dare. YOU?! I am the most cultured person on these grounds!” Celeste practically growled, then took a deep breath. “If you excuse me, I must go.” Her accent was back, but she was already leaving.

“Kyoko, why did you say that? We didn’t know the full story…” Makoto asked, probably not trying to be rude.

“The full story was most likely Celeste made a mistake and the ‘chef’, I assume, trid to correct her.” Kyoko stated, looking around, trying to see anyone nearby. “And that chef might instead be the Ultimate Cook, who’s a part of Class 77-B, so if we can just find him…”

Beside her, Makoto sighed, and also began looking around, eventually pointing down the path from the building. “Over there!”

Kyoko turned to see two distant silhouettes, the Ultimate Cook and Ultimate Mechanic, talking. She walked towards them, trying to get a bit closer to talk, but stopped. The shorter of the two was on a rant, clearly heated about it as well, but something was up. Kyoko heard Makoto stop behind her, most likely wondering why the detective stopped.

There was a smell in the air, the smell of… boiling vegetables? There wasn’t anything like that nearby, yet it seemed to be coming from the duo. Kyoko observed a bit closer, trying not to alert them of her position, and could see steam coming out of the chef. It was spilling from his ears and mouth as he seemed to rant about something. Ah, that wasn’t supposed to happen to humans.

The mechanic beside him seemed to notice as well, because he seemed to be trying to get him to calm down, with his hands raised and all. Did he look panicked? Was he afraid of what might happen if a person saw? Kyoko took a mental note, continuing to observe as she took out a small disposable camera, taking a quick picture of the scene. It seemed that the mechanic wasn’t going to be able to calm down the cook, possibly.

A tiny fire started on the tip of the chef’s hat and the mechanic gave a small shout before putting it out. Then, he seemed to hushedly yell at the chef, and the shorter glared, then looked a bit shocked. It seemed to be the end of it, as the steam disappeared. Afterward, the two seemed to hurry away.

Kyoko looked towards Makoto, who looked incredibly worried, but shook her head. “Don’t go after them. Let’s go, we’ve got our first evidence.” She held up the camera, and Makoto looked determined again, nodding. She then hurried off towards the room she had taken over, ready to place this somewhere on the corkboard or in a folder.

[---]

Angered shouting rang throughout the classroom, coming from two girls in the middle. Chiaki clutched her game girl tightly, watching Sato and Hiyoko shout insults and all sorts at each other as Mahiru looked incredibly tired. She looked around, seeing Ryota in the corner, Anon next to him looking angry, Natsumi sitting on a desk eating chips while watching, and Fuyuhiko occasionally stealing some while also watching. So nobody was going to stop this? Even Chisa was near her desk, watching with a stern look.

“Stop messing up my life! You’re like a roach who decided to fuck up everyone’s day by existing!” Hiyoko spat at her, glaring at the other with hatred.

“It’s not my fault you’re easily ticked off, look at you, still acting like a small toddler who needs someone to do everything for you!” Sato crossed her arms. “Mahiru isn’t your mother, you know! She’s a person, and you need to stop leeching off of her!”

It was getting really bad, and Chiaki felt it could escalate into a physical fight. She turned to Anon, who was starting to move towards them sternly. From what she knows about the true personality of the imposter was that they were level-headed and didn’t want anybody- stranger or not- to make bad decisions. So maybe they were going to take hold of the situation.

“You two, stop fighting this instant. This isn’t the time for a petty argument.” They said, folding their arms. 

“This is none of your business,” Sato snapped at him, clenching her fists. Chiaki furrowed her eyebrows. 

“Yeah, it’s not like it’ll go on forever. Miss has-been will realize she doesn’t have a point soon enough,” Hiyoko slyly commented, reverting into one of her old child-like poses from when she was still short.

“Hey!” Sato flared. “You’re the one who’s going to be a has-been when I’m through with you!” 

Anon looked as if they were going to say more, but then their eyelids drooped, their movements slowing and Ryota made a small noise of alarm, running to their side. As if knowing what was going to happen, the real animator guided the imposter to a seat and as soon as they sat down, their head banged against the desk. Chiaki thought it looked really similar to when they died.

“Gee, I think you bored them,” Hiyoko remarked to Sato, “It’s no wonder, you’re pretty boring to argue with, too.”

Sato looked over at the dancer, a fire in her eyes. Chiaki wanted to step in, but she wondered if she should. She didn’t even know what they were arguing about in the first place, how was she supposed to de-escalate it?

“Listen here you runt!” Sato began, her voice full of resentment and vile anger. “I’m going to make sure you end up dead again yo-” A loud stomp against the ground interrupted whatever threat that was going towards.

“That’s enough!” Mahiru shouted. “I’m tired of you two fighting! Sato, you’re better than this!” 

Sato’s eyes widened, and she folded her arms. When Mahiru continued to stare at her, Sato narrowed her eyes. “What? Am I the only one in the wrong here?”

“W-well…” Mahiru looked at Hiyoko, who was looking at the ground. “I’ll discuss this with Hiyoko later-”

“What, is it because she’s more important than me?”

“What? No-!” 

“Face it, Mahiru.” Sato looked hurt, her fists clenched at her side as she began leaving. “You replaced me.” With that, she left, despite Mahiru’s desperate attempts to call for her.

Chiaki worriedly looked over at Mahiru, and stayed quiet for a bit before trying to say something. “She… she’ll come around… I think…”

That didn’t seem to help at all. Chiaki was at a loss for words, how could she comfort Mahiru? She never experienced her friends accusing her of replacing them! She tried to continue finding words, and took a step closer.

“It’s… um… going to be okay, Mahiru. Fights… happen.” Chiaki tried again, but it fell flat.

“Chiaki…” Chisa’s voice suddenly cut through her troubled thoughts. “I know you’re trying, but I think Mahiru needs some time alone, alright?”

Chiaki looked at Mahiru, who had walked towards the door, head hanging low as she stood at the doorway. “But her two best friends had an argument,” Chiaki stated. “Shouldn’t we try and tell her it’ll be okay?”

“Sometimes people just need time. You know that more than anyone, don’t you?” Chisa smiled at her. 

Chiaki looked down. “Yes…”

“For now, we let them settle it on their own. You may be the class representative, and have a feeling to help all your friends, but sometimes, they need to figure things out on their own.” The teacher patted Chiaki on the head and made her way out the door.

The gamer sighed, looking at the dejected Mahiru and the guilty-looking Hiyoko. She really hoped they'd make up soon, because she hated seeing her friends so down. It made her sad to look at them that way. Sighing once more, she wiped the tears off her face and went out the door, hoping to talk to Hajime soon.

**_[Clue Found!: Hot-Headed Debate!]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this one! I have this story planned to the end! (if only I could know how to write it down)


	4. An Arm and a Leg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko and Makoto witness something a bit disturbing. Chiaki listens to something a bit disturbing.

Another picture was tacked onto the cork board, connecting to the picture of the chef with steam coming out of his mouth and actual head. It was of a simple thing Kyoko had observed as well, which was of the dancer again- with her neck snapped. These things shouldn’t be _possible_ , which is why she was investigating them in the first place. Now if only Makoto would get over the sight of a teenager with her neck snapped while still walking around.

“Is this what you normally see all the time, Kyoko?” Makoto asked, clearly still shaken.

“Well, normally they’re dead.” She responded coldly, flipping through a folder of student profiles.

“Oh… so this is clearly different. I mean- I kind of knew that already, but I never worked on detective stuff, heh.” He scratched the side of his cheek again, and Kyoko shooed away the warm feeling in her face.

“It’s not so different from other occupations.” She put that profile down and wrote a few things in her notes. “You just work with dead bodies sometimes.”

“Does it ever get… too much for you?” The lucky student questioned, tilting his head, a hint of concern in his eyes.

Kyoko hummed in thought. “No, it seems I’ve gotten used to it by now.” She looked at the corkboard, furrowing her brows.

“Oh.” Was the only response that came from Makoto, which worried Kyoko only slightly.

A silence stretched, but Kyoko used it to her advantage. She needed a bit of quiet to really think of their next move. Should they try and check out the building restricted from the student body? Or was that too risky? If they were caught, they could be severely punished depending on the contents inside. Or they could get closer to the class instead, but how to do so was the question. 

“We could spy on them…” She said aloud, then paused as she realized Makoto was still in the room.

“Huh? Isn’t that… wrong?” Makoto sounded uncomfortable, only a bit. “I mean, we already spied on people, right?”

“But those were only three, we need more clues to piece together the overall picture, Naegi. I see no other way to get closer to the upperclassmen otherwise.” 

“What about trying to talk to them like normal students?”

Kyoko looked over at him with narrowed eyes. What was he getting at? The detective looked back at the corkboard, then back at him. “Most likely, that wouldn’t do much. They’d still hold back important details we need.”

“Maybe if we become close friends?” 

“...Makoto…” Kyoko put a hand to her mouth, stifling only a small chuckle. “I don’t think we can easily do that. But maybe you’re getting on to something?” She watched his face beam. “Perhaps we could find the class representative. She’d seem the easiest to befriend, as you’d say.”

“Great! Not everything has to be so stalker-ish!” Makoto smiled. “Come on, let’s go see if we can find her!” He jumped out of the seat he had previously been sitting in, and started walking away.

Kyoko huffed and spun the corkboard on it’s flipping stand so it showed the chalkboard side, and walked after him. Apparently, he didn’t get far, as he was stopped by a, albeit suspicious, classmate. The Ultimate Soldier, Mukuro Ikusaba seemed to have stopped in the middle of the hall- in the way of the exit. Kyoko narrowed her eyes, wondering what she was doing.

“Hey, Ikusaba!” Makoto greeted her, giving a wave.

“Naegi…” The Ultimate Soldier looked as if she panicked a little, Kyoko could tell by the way her eyes shifted a bit and how a small drop of sweat went down her face. She then bowed very deeply, making the detective raise her brows.

“Huh? Oh- you don’t have to-” Makoto chuckled. “We’re friends after all!”

Mukuro seemed to stand up straight. “Friends…?”

“Uh… yeah. Yeah! We’re friends.” Makoto smiled at her, and Kyoko furrowed her brows again.

Mukuro seemed to smile and gave a peace sign, then looked over at Kyoko with a drastic change in tone. “Where are you two going?”

“We’re just going to take a walk, it’s a great day outside.” Makoto answered. 

Mukuro crossed her arms, glaring at Kyoko. “...See you later, then.” She then continued down the hall.

Kyoko watched her leave, a small fleeting feeling of suspicion coming and going. How could she be tied to any of the happenings with Class 77-B? No, there wasn’t any clue on that, so it simply wasn’t true. Makoto had waved goodbye, and Kyoko gave a dismissive nod as the soldier left. 

Then, they continued out of the building in search of the class representative. Kyoko had a few ideas of where she could be, so she began leading Makoto towards the girls’ dorms. She was the Ultimate Gamer after all, she might be playing video games inside. However, they didn’t make it to the dormitories, as another person stood in their way.

It was definitely unintentional, as it seemed that he was handling a bear in the middle of the pathway. Makoto let slip a small yell, and Kyoko could understand, not many students actually knew there was a bear on campus, but it was allowed. Only for schooling purposes though, and the one handling the bear had to promise that the bear didn’t attack any other students.

She believed it belonged to the Ultimate Breeder, which must be the scarfed teenager in front of them, who seemed to actually be having a tough time. He had his hands up as the grizzly seemed to be roaring at him in some sort of angered state. Was it anger? Kyoko wasn’t well with animal emotions, now, she could definitely detect human ones, but animals? Not so great.

The bear placed its great paws on the breeder’s shoulders, who seemed to be struggling under its weight. Makoto seemed panicky now, because it definitely looked as if the bear was attacking said breeder. It was then when the breeder seemed to have said something- was water trickling out of his mouth?- that the bear let go and backed up a few steps, with the breeder slowly walking towards him. Now they were out of sight of the normal pathway that was lined with tall hedges, but Kyoko wanted to see more.

She crept around the corner of the hedges, and looked to see that they were in the small forest of Hope’s Peak, and the breeder did seem to be having trouble controlling the bear. Kyoko furrowed her brows, wondering if something was wrong, but then it happened. The grizzly opened his large jaw wide, and chomped down on the breeder’s arm. 

Kyoko had to put a hand over Makoto’s mouth before he screamed- even more so when they heard a sickening crunch. The detective knew that sound- the arm broke, and not cleanly. However, instead of screaming, the breeder merely coughed up what appeared to be water and then seemed to reprimand the bear quietly. The grizzly let go and back up, tilting its head. 

Kyoko took a deep breath, and began walking away. Hurriedly. She had seen enough for now, they can find the class representative another time- did she take a picture? No, she could just write it down. Makoto followed her, in clearly worse shape.

“Shouldn’t we get help?!” He asked panickedly.

“No, did you see his reaction? I don’t think he even felt pain.” Kyoko began writing something down as she walked. “Now come, we have a lot of things to talk about.”

[---]

Chiaki walked through the grounds, humming to herself. She wanted to see Hajime, but when she texted him that she was on her way, he said he wasn’t at his dorm anymore. Which couldn’t be good, he still had to rest, didn’t he? So she was on her way to Izuru’s Palace- Izuru’s building to give him an earful. She sounded a bit like Mahiru just then.

As she went down the path to Izuru’s Palace, she froze, because she saw a familiar pig-tailed blonde talking to a familiar blue short-haired twin. Oh no. Should she… confront them? So soon? No, Hajime said she had to wait. She’ll go around, but they better not forget what they did! Or what might happen!

Chiaki angrily walked around, glimpsing a knife in Junko’s hand, and she hurried quicker. She wished she’d go away already. When they were out of sight, Chiaki took a deep breath and continued on, a bit broken-spirited. Finally, she reached Izuru’s Palace, walking inside towards- where was it? Why was he at the infirmary here? Maybe he wasn’t neglecting the fact he nearly died like she first thought.

Upon entering the room, she blinked a couple of times to understand what she was seeing. Gundham was on a counter, looking out the window with an arm sling, while Hajime seemed to be stitching up his leg. Chiaki finally processed it, and let out a ‘huh’.

Hajime looked over at her and waved. “Chiaki! Hey, hey!” Gundham only looked at her.

“Hey, hey. What happened?” She tilted her head in confusion.

“Well, the story he gave me was that his grizzly bear was sort of freaked out that it couldn’t sense his heartbeat, and tried finding out what happened. Then, he sort of bit down on his arm to make sure he was still alive or something.” Hajime explained, as he continued to stitch up the leg that had the pant sleeve rolled up. 

“...Why did he bit down so hard?” Chiaki asked, and Gundham huffed.

“Normally, the taste of human blood stops him, but…” Gundham seemed a bit disturbed, even if it was a glare.

“Oh… no blood. That’s right… wait, what about your leg?” 

“...I may have fallen upon the earth, and it… stopped working.” Gundham huffed. 

“Why?” When Gundham shrugged, Chiaki looked to Hajime.

“Er… well, I guess.. The nerves or something… maybe…” Ah, Hajime doesn’t know. Maybe Izuru does.

Shoot, she wanted to talk to Hajime about Junko, but with Gundham here, what was she to do? She’ll have to find a different time to talk about her. “Well, at least the bear didn’t do a lot of damage?”

“As if Grizzner would try anything of the sort.” Gundham huffed. “He may be of the cosmos, but he wouldn’t dare.”

Chiaki smiled. “Okay. That’s good! Will it heal, though?”

Hajime looked as if he was thinking. “His arm? I think so, I mean, you guys aren’t technically alive, so… it’s a pretty good chance though.” Gundham once more looked perturbed.

“Hmph! As if we could be classified as alive.” The breeder muttered, and Chiaki worriedly looked at him.

“Of course we’re alive.” Chiaki told him, trying to be reassuring. “We’re talking and thinking!”

“Could one call us alive? Is the existence we are currently experiencing truly living? Or are we but husks of what we used to be?” Gundham glared at her, and Chiaki froze a little.

“Um… yes? Or... no?” What did he mean? “What would you call it?”

Gundham stared her down. “We aren’t living, we are but corpses reanimated. Nothing but walking, lifeless bodies with no purpose of being here anymore. Our time came, yet we decided it wasn’t enough. Perhaps it wasn’t, but what we are isn’t living. It’s just existing.”

Chiaki furrowed her eyebrows. Was that right? No, they had to be living… right? What was Gundham talking about? When it came to her friends, she always knew how to console them or give them some form of advice, but lately… she hasn’t been able to do that. Especially now. Should she give Gundham time like she is with Mahiru? Is that what he needed? 

“You’re done by the way,” Hajime suddenly sliced through the silence, talking to Gundham as if the breeder hadn’t been rewriting Chiaki’s view of existence. 

He seemed to huff again, and his hamsters chittered at him as he left. Chiaki watched, trying to piece together what living meant. Hajime put a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a small, reassuring smile. Right, she didn’t have to focus on that now. They had dire matters to discuss! She’ll focus on that later. It just needed time.

**_[Clue Found!: The Right to Bear Arms!]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another one around the clock! I think I can wrap the story up in the next few chapters, as we're almost to the end!


	5. Lucky, Lucky, Oh no

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko and Makoto investigate the building. Chiaki is at her limits with Gundham.

What they had witnessed earlier bothered Kyoko. Of course, there could be a more reasonable answer to it, such as congenital insensitivity to pain, but she already checked medical records and saw nothing like that for any of them. Was one of her very first theories true? No. That was just jumping to conclusions. 

She needed to focus. She knew what their next move was to be. Makoto might not like it, but Kyoko wanted to be sure of this case, it felt as if the rug kept getting pulled from under her feet. Speaking of, the detective looked over at the lucky student, who looked anxious. 

“Naegi, are you alright?” Kyoko asked, folding her arms while side-eyeing him.

“Are you sure we should have just left? What if he needed help?” Ah, there’s the reason for it.

“...If my theory is true, he didn’t.” Kyoko hummed to herself. 

“What theory?” Makoto asked, and Kyoko tightened her grip on her arms.

“It’s… a far-fetched theory. I want to confirm it before telling you. But for that to happen,” She faced him, furrowing her eyebrows. “We’re going to need to break and enter a building.”

Makoto stared at her, blankly almost, before his eyes shot wide open. “What?! That’s illegal! I thought we were going to talk to their class representative!” 

“We can do that later. We need to focus on the bigger picture for now, then move on to the details.” 

“But isn’t it too dangerous?!” 

“Not if we’re careful. Detective work can get messy, Makoto. You have to walk the extra mile sometimes.” Kyoko began getting ready, grabbing a flashlight and camera, and walked towards the door. “You can stay behind if you wish.” With that, she began walking towards that mysterious building.

Footsteps behind her indicated Makoto was indeed following, which surprised her a little, but she was glad. As in, more people working on a case would make it easier to solve, especially with someone like Makoto, where fresh eyes can catch something hers cannot. The sun was setting, which was good, because the darkness can aid them when breaking and entering. 

The building before her stood tall, despite it smoking a mere few days before. The door was card-key locked, they’d have to get in another way. But how? The windows were barred! Maybe if she could somehow get access to a key card…

Metal creaking caught her attention, and then a metallic bang made her turn her head. Makoto was standing in front of the first floor window with the bars that had previously been on the window, but somehow it popped clean off. Kyoko inspected it closer, and saw that it was particularly rusty to a point where it could easily degrade. How… lucky.

Kyoko then went towards the window and examined it’s way of opening, and to her surprise it was just a normal window lock. Did they think the bars were enough? Or was whatever in this building easy to contain? Nonetheless, Kyoko opened the window with a bit of trouble. For some reason, the lock was broken and the window didn’t slide up very well. A mistake? Or was it the ‘something’ again?

On the inside, from what Kyoko could see with her flashlight, the lobby looked just like a dormitory lobby. She walked towards the front desk, looking around, seeing only a powered down computer that's password protected, a few useless papers, and a check-in list. Looking over the check-in list, it seemed that at first it was only someone by the name of ‘Kamukura’, but then around a few weeks ago, only they and ‘Nanami’ checked in, but checked out with the entirety of Class-77b. 

“Curious…” Kyoko muttered, hearing Makoto trying to open the doors to the stairway. She walked over, trying it for herself. It didn’t open. “The smoke came out of the second story. I’m sure we can find the window for the room responsible.” 

“How do we get up there?” Makoto asked, walking around the receptionists’ desk.

“We need a key card again. The security in this building is something else…” Kyoko muttered, but her thoughts of how to get past this hiccup were interrupted.

“I think I found one!” She looked over and saw Makoto bending down under the desk, tugging something from underneath the leg. 

“What?” Kyoko watched in almost disbelief as Makoto walked over with a key card- and when he swiped it, it worked. 

“How lucky, huh?” He opened the door. Too lucky, they’ve been having too much luck lately.

“...Let’s go.” She hurried up the stairs, trying to pin the location of the smoking classroom. However, she barely needed to do a thorough search, as the smell of old smoke hit her nose, and she walked into a hallway of the second floor. Near the end was a scorched doorway with ashes lining it. “I believe it’s this room.”

The room number and label were ineligible as staining smoke and ash covered it, but Kyoko had a quick look around and saw that there was a medical lab nearby, along with a kitchen, indoor garden, and other rooms that didn’t match with one another. What was this building? 

With a gloved hand, she opened the door and stood in slight surprise at what an eye sore it was. Blackened rubble laid around as old, smoky fog floated near the ceiling. Wires were dangling haphazardly, and many tools and other mechanical devices were strewn about. It looked as if a bomb went off, and perhaps that’s what happened, though it didn’t look like some sort of bomb construction room. 

She walked around amongst the rubble, trying to piece together what this room could have been. There were many broken machines she didn’t recognize, a door that was stuck, and what seemed to be a table in the middle of the room. This was the first room she wanted to check out, but there seemed to be nothing but broken pieces around.

Kyoko bent down, brushing rubbled aside to see if there was anything underneath. A scrap of cloth caught her eye, a brown fabric that belonged to the school uniform. So students were in here. Could it be the entire class they saw leaving that very night the room was in flames? Were they the cause? 

She got up, and heard the noise of a doorknob breaking. Could it be… She turned and saw Makoto at the door she swore was stuck, but now it was wide open with Makoto looking surprised. Too lucky. She’ll wrap up this investigation after seeing what was in that room. 

As she approached, a cold breeze came from inside, which made her curiouser. Peering inside, she saw a morgue, with a corpse cabinet and fifteen gurneys. This room was untouched by the explosion that presumably happened. Why was there a morgue connected to that room? Getting closer to the cabinet, Kyoko froze.

That theory, no, it couldn’t be! It couldn’t be correct! She put a hand over her mouth. It wasn’t scientifically possible! But here it was, a label upon the corpse cabinet, clear as day. 

‘77-B’. 

In her shock, she failed to hear the door creak shut.

[---]

Her hand was pressed to her chest, waiting. Her eyes were glued to her ceiling, waiting. Chiaki was waiting. She called herself stupid for waiting, it wasn’t going to come. She had been waiting for an hour, and it never came. Of course it won’t, she was dead. Dead people don’t have heartbeats.

Was she still dead, then? Didn’t Hajime called them alive? Wasn’t this getting a second chance at life? Maybe Gundham was right. Maybe they are just walking corpses. No! Chiaki sat up, pressing her hands to her ears. That wasn’t right! They were alive, as long as they could talk and think! Even if they didn’t have heartbeats, or needed to breathe, or eat…

This was bad. She never thought of the position they were in before, she was only ever glad her friends were back. Sure, a thought or two came to mind, but she didn’t think much about it! She never had to. But here she was, in her gaming reference pajamas, sitting on her bed with her knees pressed close to her. Thinking those dark thoughts.

Come to think of it, were they all alive forever? Will they stay the same age and appearance? Will there be a day where she watches Hajime die? Will they outlive the Earth itself, with no way to die? 

Tears were coming out of her eyes again. Always tears. They’ll have to live with the side effects, and some had it terrible. Sonia constantly coughs up blood even though Hajime said they don’t bleed anymore, Hiyoko’s neck snaps a lot and the imposter falls asleep mysteriously all the time. They were suffering, weren’t they? Chiaki’s just making them suffer. How would Gundham describe it? ‘Hell on Earth’?

Wait! It was because of Gundham she was thinking this way in the first place! Chiaki got up, quickly getting ready for class. If she convinced him that they were living, then she wouldn’t think this way also, right? He’d be happier, she’d be happier, everyone would be happier! Although, she needed to check if Hiyoko, Sato and Mahiru made up yet. There were a lot of things to do, then. But it was fine, Chiaki had to make sure her friends were always okay!

She rushed to class, mostly because she would be late otherwise, and sat down at her desk, determined for the day. Mahiru, Hiyoko and Sato all came in, sitting down and not speaking to one another. They didn’t solve their issues yet. Chiaki sighed inwardly, but decided to leave it to rest. Best friends always came through for one another, right? Speaking of best friends…

Hajime sat down, smiling at the gamer. “Hey, hey.”

Chiaki smiled back. “Hey, hey. I thought you’d be gone for a couple of weeks? You were hurt pretty badly.”

“Izuru. Need I say more.” Hajime looked annoyed, but that was probably understandable. Izuru was a bit much. “And hey, you didn’t let what Tanaka said get to you, right?”

It did. It struck her down along with her ideals. “No, of course not. I’m hoping to show him that we are living, despite everything that says otherwise. How could we not be?”

“That’s good, Izuru said it did.” Hajime narrowed his eyes at her, but then continued to give a small smile. “How are you going to do that?”

“By simply talking him out of it.” Chiaki smiled. 

When Chisa walked in and announced it was a free day, many people got up, usually to talk to their closer friends or to others. Chiaki got up, set on changing someone else’s mind to be rid of those dark thoughts. The gamer walked over to Gundham, who was blankly staring at a wall while his hamsters seemed really sad, and stopped in front of him. He looked up at her with a glare, and the gamer tried giving him one of her own glares.

“We need to talk.” Chiaki shuffled her bag on her shoulders, getting ready for whatever this guy had. 

“And why would I?” Is it Chiaki, or did the breeder look incredibly tired? 

“Because you’ve been thinking of a really bad mentality lately- or is it lately? Have you been thinking you’re just a walking corpse since we’ve all woken up?” Chiaki pinched her eyebrows together.

Gundham turned his head away from her, burying his face in his scarf, his eyes still in a glare. “It’s what we are, isn’t it? How can one be living without the living part?”

Chiaki felt a drop of sweat go down her face. “How are we not living? We’re talking, and walking and thinking. That’s enough, isn’t it?”

Gundham looked up at her. “Yet we’ve been excluded from the important pieces of life,” He looked at his broken arm that was still in a sling. “Such as pain, which teaches one what is safe or not. We don’t have a need to eat or drink, yet can do so, but what would be the point? Our hearts don’t beat, so how can anything else know we live? Then, we merely walk along with the devil’s effects.” He looked back at Chiaki. “Now, tell me, what is the point?”

Chiaki blinked. “The point of what?”

“The point of merely existing without living.”

What? This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. She was just going to convince him of how they are still living, but… now he was making a point? Were they living? No! They had to be! Right? The gamer was trying to process what he was saying. The point of existing without living? What did that mean? Did that all really matter to living? What did living mean?

“No, you’re wrong.” A commanding, yet polite voice cut through. Chiaki turned to see Sonia, looking stern, with her hand out as if to stop the dark thoughts. “I cannot allow you to think like that any longer, Gundham!”

The breeder looked at the princess, glaring still. “I am merely pointing out the problem within our circumstance.”

Sonia shook her head. “You are not. You’re just thinking the wrong way.” She then looked over at the gamer. “And Chiaki, I’m surprised, you haven’t said the most important thing that makes us alive.” 

“Huh?” Chiaki wanted to say more, but her head was clouding. Was Gundham right? 

“What makes us living isn’t the actual motions of living! We don’t need to breathe, eat or drink to be living!” Sonia said each part carefully, as if she didn’t want to mess up. “What you’re saying isn’t living, it’s surviving!”

“And what is the difference?” Gundham asked, and Chiaki knew what Sonia was getting at.

“Surviving is just doing things because you must, but living is making your circumstances what you want them to be!” Sonia smiled at him. “Living is being happy with your existence. That means making memories with the ones you… love most!”

“Sonia’s right!” Chiaki nodded, the dark clouds clearing away. “We need to make memories, like Miss Yukizome always says. Without that, you aren’t living. You’re the only one not living, Gundham!”

The breeder looked taken aback,and his hamster started chittering to him, almost like whispers. He then gave a small ‘hmph’, and mumbled. “I suppose I’ll think about that foolish mentality.” 

“That’s good enough for me,” Chiaki smiled.

“And for me!” Sonia smiled again, and Chiaki walked away, feeling a bit accomplished.

Maybe she doesn’t have to solve all of her classmate’s problems, because as long as they’re together, they’ll help each other. This is what it means to make memories and have friends, Chiaki wouldn’t have dreamt it in a million years before going to Hope’s Peak. As she sat down, feeling proud and happy of her friends, she got a text on her phone. It was odd, since she didn’t have many contacts- a lot of them were in the room. She pulled it out, humming a tune from one of her favorite games, and her entire mood crashed down to the pits of despair upon reading it.

‘Heyyyy, can we like, have a talk’ A photo was attached along with it, one of a pinkish-blonde, pig-tailed teenager with bear pins as she held up a peace sign.

**_[Clue Found!: Where The Dead Woke]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I just want to let you all know this will be ending soon. I got pretty burnt out with this story, and I feel like it ran its course. Of course, I'll give you all an ending, because I for one won't be happy unless I've made a good ending.


	6. A Meeting to be Desired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko tries to find out why the door shut. Chiaki goes to a meeting.

“Kyoko! The door is stuck!” Makoto shouted over at her, and the detective looked over at him, sweat rolling down her face.

She still wasn’t easily inclined to believe it, how was her first fleeting theory true? It was impossible! Living things couldn’t be brought back to life no matter how hard someone tried. But here was the evidence, clear as day. As a detective, she needed to take some evidence with a grain of salt, but how could she with this?

“What do we do? The door won’t budge!” Makoto continued on, and Kyoko forced the thoughts at the back of her mind. They had an immediate situation to work on right now. Getting out of a morgue.

“It can’t be frozen shut, is it locked?” Kyoko jumped onto finding out the exact situation.

“No, it’s not, it’s like something was moved in front of it,” Makoto shifted it a bit, and tried prying it open. “It can only open a crack now.” 

Kyoko furrowed her brows, thinking. Could something have fallen in front of it? The room did look as if it could crumble at any moment. She walked over, getting Makoto to move aside so she could peek through the crack. Not much could be seen, but near the bottom seemed to be a moved piece of particularly large rubble. Too perfectly moved.

“This couldn’t have fallen from the ceiling…” She thought aloud, trying to look more into the room. She saw figures moving, but not any striking appearances that could say who the figures were. “We have to stay quiet, there’s people in the other room.”

“What?” Makoto began whispering, which Kyoko was thankful for. “What do you mean? Who’s in the other room?”

“I can’t tell, but be mindful. There’s two of them.” Kyoko informed him, narrowing her eyes.

“Could they be dangerous?” Makoto asked, concern lining his gaze.

“We must assume so, because they may be the reason this building exists.” 

“What does that mean?!” Makoto whisper-yelled, and Kyoko waved her hand at him, trying to get him to be more quiet.

“It means they might be aiming to kill us.” 

“ _What?!_ ” Makoto yelled, and Kyoko shot him a look, and he covered his mouth with a hand.

The detective looked around for some sort of way out, but it was a windowless room with corpse cabinets. The only way out was the door, and that wasn’t an option. She furrowed her brows, trying to listen in on who the two people were, but they were not saying anything it seemed. Her last option was to push the door open more, and ever so slightly so they didn’t notice. 

Makoto seemed to catch on with what she was doing and tried to help as well, and it seemed to be working for the most part. The door was being cracked open more by shoving it, getting the piece of rubble to move as well. It was quiet, with no way of the party on the other side of the door to know. Once the door was open enough to see into the next room, Kyoko stopped, not wanting to draw attention to the moved door. Makoto thankfully stopped as well.

She then looked through the crack in the door, able to see further into the room. Those two figures were teenage girls, and Kyoko narrowed her eyes when she saw that it was Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba. What were they doing here? That didn’t seem right. Makoto made a small noise of confusion, and Kyoko saw he was also looking in through the door. 

“What are they doing here?” Makoto asked hushedly, and the detective tried to think.

“I’m not sure. I may have an idea, but there’s no evidence for it yet.” Kyoko had two ideas, actually. One was that they were called here. The other is that they’re the culprits who blocked the door.

“We should call to them for help!” Makoto suggested, but Kyoko shook her head.

“We don’t know why they’re here, it would be too risky.” 

A stretch of silence went by as the lucky student seemed to think. Then, he slightly gasped. “You don’t seriously think-”

“It’s an idea. Is your phone on?” Kyoko asked him, wondering if she could call her da- the headmaster.

She watched him take it out, then sigh. “No, it’s dead.”

“So is mine. It appears the lucky streak has broken.” Kyoko commented, then continued looking in the door space. 

Mukuro was standing right by the doorway, and Junko was tapping her foot, seemingly waiting. The soldier looked Kyoko right in the eyes with a glare, to which the detective leaned back from. After trying to think of what to do next, the detective heard Junko loudly exclaim;

“She should be here in three, two…!” The excited-sounding countdown was interrupted by a door slamming open, and when Kyoko looked through the door again, she saw a very terrified and determined Chiaki Nanami.

[---]

Her hands were trembling as she held her phone, rereading the message that had been sent to her from an unknown number. No, who was she kidding? She clearly knew who sent the message- the picture of the culprit was right underneath. Questions flooded her mind, and she tried to remain cool at the surface. She didn’t want her friends to worry, and she was still in class.

With a collected mind, Chiaki typed a reply, hands shaking still. ‘Why are you texting me? What do you want?’ 

She watched in horror almost as those three dots appeared, and she knew that Junko was typing. She didn’t like this, knowing that the person responsible for almost all of her classmates deaths was contacting her in real time. ‘We need to have a talk, like, I just told you that’. 

Chiaki furrowed her eyebrows in anger. This girl knew how to get on people’s nerves. ‘The only time we’ll talk is when you’re behind bars!’ She typed, feeling full confidence.

‘Really? Here I was going to tell you something oh so important about your frieeeeends!’

The gamer shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to speak with this criminal. ‘And what would that be?’

‘They’ll go ka-boom if you don’t agree to talk with me!’

What? Chiaki stared in disbelief. Junko couldn’t really, right? There’s no way she’d be able to blow up Chiaki’s classmates! But… if she killed them already… Would Hajime be able to bring back blown apart people? Most likely not! ‘What do you mean?’

‘Let’s say there’s a fun little button in my hand, and there’s even funner explosive devices in your classroom!’

Instinctively, Chiaki looked around her classroom. There was nothing out of place, just her classmates talking with one another. But could there actually be…? ‘You’re bluffing, right?’

‘Aww, you think I’m bluffing. But seeing as what I’ve already done, doesn’t that make all the doubt disappear?’

Chiaki shut her eyes, shakily breathing before responding. ‘Fine. Where are we meeting’

‘In Izuru’s Building, laboratory, in five minutes, or else!’

Wait, wait what? Five minutes, or else? What did that mean? Chiaki’s eyes widened. Did that mean… Junko will blow up her class in five minutes if she didn’t get there in time?! Shit!

She got up, rushing towards the door, throwing a look at Chisa. “I gotta go, bye!” She left, running down the halls. 

There was no time to abide by school rules, not when all of her friends’ lives were at stake! If they were blown to bits, they couldn’t live again! It didn’t take a genius to figure that one out. Chiaki won’t let anyone hurt her classmates, not again!

She tore out of the building and across the yard, hoping she won’t be late. Sure, she may have hastily rushed out of her classroom suspiciously to make sure she got there on time, but who knows? She could very well already be late. Why should she even trust Junko? What if she’s trying to kill Chiaki instead?

It was too late to think now, because she bursted through the door of the building, racing up the stairs. The doors were unlocked, most likely due to Junko, which helped Chiaki. As she neared the door, she realized in her rush that she forgot some sort of self-defense weapon. She’ll have to settle for the things she learned from video games.

Old smoke spilled from the top of the room as she slammed the door open, out of breath and terrified. There she was, Junko Enoshima, waving at her and smiling with a detonator in her hand. Mukuro was by the morgue door, but Chiaki’s attention was on Junko.

And the fact that she just pressed down the button.

**_[Clue Found!: Twins of Destruction]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A real short chapter, but the ending won't be! I'll upload two chapters on Friday, the ending and the epilogue.


	7. Case Closed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki is faced with a dire situation.

Chiaki’s eyes were wide as she stared at the detonator that had been triggered. She only had a few seconds to react to the fact that her classmates most likely died, before streamers suddenly came at her from the sides. Confetti rained down from the ceiling and party poppers went off. Confused, she looked around, seeing Junko laughing hysterically. 

“Wh-What?” She stammered, staring dumbfoundedly at the confetti and streamers littering the already destroyed room.

“Gotcha! Your friends are fiiine,” A shadow covered half of Junko’s face. “For now, you know.”

“I- What?” Chiaki still didn't understand. “It was a trick?” She ran all the way here? For this? 

“Well, I don’t really like waiting so long for meetings, so why not add a little danger to the mix?” The fashionista laughed again, then continued. “Of course, there are actual bombs in that classroom, you’re lucky you got here on time!” 

“So you could have killed my friends?!” Chiaki shouted. “Again?!”

Junko then looked serious for once. “You know, I wanted to talk about that. About you all being alive. That’s kind of rude of you.”

Chiaki clenched her fists, furrowing her eyebrows. “Why should I talk to you? I just want to see you go away!”

Junko made a show of splaying her hand on her chest dramatically, looking hurt. “Oh, how you wound me. But, seriously, don’t think just because you can come back to life doesn’t mean I can’t kill you again.”

The gamer squinted at this horrible person. “Why? Why do you want to hurt me and my friends so much? Why did you kill all of them?”

Laughter, that’s what Junko began doing, just laughing. Then, she seemed to stop laughing in the span of a second. “I didn’t kill all of your classmates. Just the majority. Like, two of your classmates died, and I thought, “hey! I got an idea, let’s get rid of the rest!”, so I did just that. But then you came back. How?” She then had a shadow over her eyes. “I know how. You got yourself a helping hand! That’s so unfair.”

“It’s not unfair if it means saving our lives!” Chiaki rebutted, getting tired of this. “This isn’t a video game!” 

“You’re totally right! It isn’t, so you shouldn’t have extra lives.” Then, she looked at her phone, her face twisted into a wretched smile. “It seems the menagerie is here!”

Chiaki baffedly stared at her. “What? A… zoo?” She tilted her head.

“Equivalent to! Say, did you ever check if you were followed or not?” Junko did her Cheshire smile, and Chikai looked behind her at the thrown open door.

One by one, her classmates piled into the room, with Chisa and Hajime in front. Chisa seemed to slide into a battle stance, while Hajime looked bored out of his mind as he scanned the room. Chiaki felt a chill run up and down her spine as she realized all of her classmates came, even the ones who she was still trying to befriend. 

“So, who’re we fighting?” Akane shouted, looking battle-ready. 

“Slow down, you gotta know your opponent, remember?” Nekomaru responded, equally loud and battle-ready.

“I’m guessing it’s the pigtailed bitch, whoever she is.” Fuyuhiko answered, taking out a gun. Natsumi beside him took out her own gun. 

“Hey! That’s the girl who stabbed me!” Mahiru called out, flinching back.

“A-and the one w-who tripped me…” Mikan said, slowly taking out a scalpel.

“And the bewitched hellion who threw me into a tank with an apex predator of the ocean,” Gundham practically growled, his hamsters chittering almost angrily.

“I’ll use the rocket launcher if I must! But I’ll settle for this self-defense glock for now!” Sonia pulled out a gun as well. 

Chiaki looked back at her classmates. “What are you all doing here?!” She was fearful for them, because Junko was dangerous!

Hajime looked at her with a smile, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder. “Because, we’re your friends, aren’t we?” He slid something into her book bag, she had no idea what though. “Friends are there for eachother.” 

Junko then made a retching noise. “Cut it out already, geez! Enough with this, I’ve got a class to destroy! And you’re all up for the number one seats!” 

“You greatly hurt my students, young lady.” Chisa’s voice grew dark with stern authority, as well with animosity. “I hope you know that will cost you.” 

“Oh no, I’m so scared! Mukuro, quick, let’s escape!” Junko laughed, even making a show of bending over and planting her hands on her knees. 

“Um… do you want me to-?” Mukuro looked over at her, which Junko straightened and stared at her. 

“Seriously? Whatever.” She turned back to Chiaki and the class. “You’ve all died, right? And come back from the dead? So, you know, there’s no way to kill you…” She sighed, almost depressed. 

Chiaki knew that was a lie, from what she said moments before. The gamer scrunched her nose in anger and disgust. Did Junko know Chiaki’s class would get here? Is that what she wanted all along? Did she have this whole thing in her hands, manipulating it like a puppet master? 

“But, but, but!” Junko twirled. “There is a way to destroy you all!” She took out a remote controller. “By blowing this entire building to smithereens! There’s bombs everywhere! Take a gander, but you won’t see them!” 

“I-Is that a joke?” Hiyoko stammered, and Chiaki lowered her head.

“I really hope so… Hajime?” Kazuichi turned his head to Hajime. So did Chiaki, only to hear him confirm it.

“Yes. You can’t come back if you’re in pieces.” His voice was low, and solemn. 

“Which is why you’re all gonna die for the final time! When I, Junko Enoshima, tell an entire group of people to die, they _die_!” The fashionista hopped a bit. “Might as well get the two stuck in the morgue as well.”

“You have people in there?!” Chiaki yelled, looking at the door that led to the morgue. 

“Well, yeah. I can’t keep them around, might as well off ‘em now!” Junko laughed harshly. 

From behind her, Chiaki could see Mukuro show a bit of emotion outside of the army soldier pose. Her eyes seemed to widen with worry, and she looked back at the morgue door, and back at Junko. Her fists seemed to clench and her face shifted towards being angry beyond belief. Maybe… Chiaki could get her… on their side?

“But why? What have they done?” Chiaki started, determined to try.

Junko rolled her eyes, toying with the incredibly dangerous object in possession. “Because, one’s a detective, you know? The other, I just don’t like that much.” She gave another laugh.

The gamer then looked over at Mukuro, gesturing her head towards Junko. Trying anything to convey that her sister didn’t care about anyone but herself and despair. Her head played the same thought; “please work, please work, please work.”

The soldier stared at her sister, then back at the door, and stepped back towards it. Chiaki saw her look down at the rubble blocking said door, and slowly start to move it. Yes! Someone in there must be very important to the soldier to get her to defy her twin sister! 

“How about we start a countdown?” Junko started. “Maybe from ten?” Akane let out a shout, and went to tackle the fashionista, but Junko shook her head, thumb right over the button. “Any sudden movements and you’ll be gone quicker! Now ,where was I… right! Ten.”

A countdown. Many things can happen within a countdown, even if that span is ten seconds. Many moves could be made by ultimate students who were quick and agile, especially ultimate soldiers, olympists, and team managers. Especially an Ultimate Hope. 

Nine. Mukuro shoved the rubble aside, making the door swing open and who Chiaki remembered to be Makoto and Kyoko rushed out. This caused a distraction, making Junko look over with a look of disdain. 

Eight. Nekomaru and Akane took this chance, rushing towards the fashionista. Sonia did, as well, along with the trigger happy siblings. 

Seven. Chiaki watched as Hajime- Izuru, started swiftly shoving other students out of the door, seemingly getting them to run for some unexplained reason. Chiaki then focused on her teacher, who had rushed towards Kyoko and Makoto, helping them out.

Six. Junko slipped out of the near smack downs Akane and Nekomaru had tried, swerving around Sonia’s, Fuyuhiko’s, and Natsumi’s bullets. The controller was still in her hand.

Five. Izuru had somehow run over to Chisa’s group gesturing for them to get out as well. Junko seemed distracted pressing the button at the moment, or was she still counting down? She did have a smug grin.

Four. The only ones in the room now were Chiaki, Akane, Nekomaru, Sonia, Junko, Izuru, Natsumi, and Fuyuhiko. However, Izuru had shoved Natsumi and Fuyuhiko out, somehow convincing them to leave as well. What was going on? It was all too quick-

Three. Izuru intercepted the battle going on, getting Nekomaru, Akane, and Sonia to leave. He grabbed something from Junko, as well. As they ran out, Nekomaru had grabbed Chiaki tightly, as if she were going to struggle.

Two. Chiaki noticed the detonator in Izuru’s hand. Her eyes widened as she saw he had Junko in a tight grip as well, preventing her from leaving. She looked at him, tears starting to form as they went out the window instead of the door. Hajime smiled at her as she went down with the three.

One. The button was pressed, and the building was torn to shreds from the inside. Fire consumed it’s very room, and Chiaki screamed out for Hajime. There was still hope, right? 

Chiaki was put down, and she took a step forward. Please… she didn’t want to lose Hajime forever. Please… A thud nearby interrupted her thoughts, and she turned, hoping to see Hajime. She did, and saw his horribly burned and ashen corpse that had landed sickenly. She let out a scream, and went instantly to his side. 

His mismatched eyes were sparkling dimly, as he swallowed hard. He then lifted an arm, poking Chiaki’s bookbag, then went limp. The gamer started crying hard, sobbing over her friend. The lab- it was gone, they couldn’t revive him, could they? There was just… no way…

“Hajime…” Chiaki choked on her tears, and held one of his hands in hers. She knew her classmates had approached, she knew they were nearby. Her friends were always near and dear. So why can’t Hajime?

Shakily, she put his arm down, feeling Chisa kneel down next to her and put a comforting hand on her back. Her back… which held her bookbag. Why did Hajime point at it? What was important? 

She took off her bag, weeping still, and looked inside. She pulled out a black notebook with a sticky note on it, with the only writing being; pg. 34. Sniffling, she opened the book to those pages, and paused. She looked at Haime, then back down at the book. Instantly she got up.

“Can… can someone please carry him and follow me?” Her voice strengthened with hope. “We’ve got a basement to get to.” Determination lit her gaze, and she began walking.

**_[Clue Found!: The Ultimate Hope Can’t Fix Himself!]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the end! I believe it ended pretty good, even if I lost a bit of motivation near the end!
> 
> And what's this? There's more?


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chiaki goes to a normal day at school.

“Wait for me, Hajime!” Chiaki shouted, rushing down the walkway towards the main doors of Hope’s Peak. 

Hajime looked back at her, a smile on his face. “Yeah, yeah, okay. Not my fault you wake up late all the time!”

Chiaki puffed out her cheeks as she walked side by side with the student counselor. “Hey! I haven’t been waking up late lately. I just get distracted!”

Hajime’s face slowly slipped into a bored expression. “And? Is that much of an excuse to be late for class?” 

“Not you too, Izuru!” Chiaki clenched onto her backpack straps as they walked into class.

Her classmates looked more lively than they ever had been. The atmosphere was happier, too. Sato and Hiyoko were arguing, but not destructively, over who’d get Mahiru the ‘prettiest’ flowers. Natsumi was giving Mahiru a glass of water, with her own in hand. Ibuki was messing with Ryota, who was laughing still. Fuyuhiko and Peko were also laughing with each other, and Gundham, Sonia and Kazuichi were in what seemed to be a heated discussion about birds.

Chiaki sat down, humming to herself as Chisa walked in. All the students in the class looked over at them, shouting greetings and the like. Chiaki smiled widely, happy that her friends were okay. 

Just then, someone stuck their head into the classroom, and it was Makoto waving, smiling widely at them. “Hey guys, are you starting class too- hey!” He was grabbed by both Mukuro and Kyoko, dragging him off down the hall.

Chiaki giggled, then looked towards Hajime, who was writing in a black notebook.

“What are you writing about?” Chiaki asked, tilting her head.

“Oh, nothing, it’s mostly Izuru. Plans and stuff.” Hajime rolled his eyes. “He thinks he’s so intellige-” Haime was interrupted by Izuru.

“Because I am “so intelligent”.” 

Hajime sighed. “Yeah, yeah okay.” He looked at Chiaki with shrugged shoulders, then he started coughing. Smoke spilled from his mouth, and he wheezed. Chiaki patted his back in comfort. He gave her an exhausted smile. 

Chiaki looked around at her class filled with happy friends making memories, and smiled back.

**_[Achievement Get: The End!]_ **

**_[Congratulations for completing the game!]_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An epilogue! Because I can't just end it without a sure good happy ending.


End file.
